Joe Montana probably won’t make Candlestick farewell

If you’re longing for one final re-enactment of The Catch — Joe Montana rolling right, scanning the field, lofting a pass toward Dwight Clark in the end zone — well, it won’t happen Monday night at Candlestick Park.

Montana, speaking on a conference call this morning, said he “most likely” will not attend the 49ers-Atlanta game on Monday night because of a previously planned family get-together. That will be the final regular-season NFL game in Candlestick history — and probably the final game, period, unless the 49ers unexpectedly host a playoff game.

“Bittersweet is probably the best way to put it,” he said. “A lot of great memories took place there. But everyone would admit it’s not the ultimate field. You want to be known for a good field, not, ‘Oh my God, we’ve got to go to Candlestick.’ There weren’t a whole lot that were worse. … It was interesting at times.”

As for the elements that notoriously affected games at the ‘Stick, Montana said, “The fog wasn’t so bad. On the whole, the biggest problem was the wind — you never really knew where it was coming from. We had dust storms in baseball season, mini-tornadoes flying around (from the infield dirt). Then they went to crushed brick and clay and it was like cement after that. The field was always wet, even if it hadn’t rained for months. There were issues with the field all the time, but it was still our field and we felt like we had home-field advantage.”

Montana recalled attending a few baseball games at Candlestick, including the earthquake-aborted Game 3 of the 1989 World Series. Montana, his wife Jennifer and their then-newborn son had just arrived at their seats when the quake struck. Jennifer Montana wanted to leave immediately, but Joe wanted to stay for the game — which was soon postponed, of course.

By the time the Montanas decided to leave, they got stuck in the parking lot “for hours and hours.”